


Anxiety - A Poem

by Pennycress (Panadopolis)



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Gen, Mental Health Issues, Poetry, Sort Of, brief reference to self-harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:01:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26688574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panadopolis/pseuds/Pennycress
Summary: Been experimenting with poetry as a means of self-expression.This one came to me one morning as a way to cope with some extra-bad morning jitters.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	Anxiety - A Poem

**Author's Note:**

> Been experimenting with poetry as a means of self-expression.
> 
> This one came to me one morning as a way to cope with some extra-bad morning jitters.

There is a monster in the woods

These dark recesses of the mind

It hunts, steadily, steadily

Sometimes it strikes, a predator lying in ambush

Tears at your belly

Or dangles you in its tendrils

Makes your whole body quiver and tremble.

_Trembling, trembling_

_Body shaking, shaking_

Sometimes it lies in wait

Ever patient, until you are at your most vulnerable

Whispering in the night

A small voice in your head, wearing you down.

_Whispering, whispering_

_Mind racing, racing_

The most insidious of them all

Plays tricks on your mind

Fights you not with its own claws

But turns your own hands against you.

You cannot fight it.

Struggling only makes the tendrils wrap tighter,

Cutting off your very breath.

Screaming and scratching with your fingers

Only makes the gauges deeper,

Tears into your very heart.

But you cannot give up.

You cannot lie in defeat

As the monster takes control of your very life.

Instead, breathe.

Let your belly

Fill with air

Make the monster

Loosen its grip

Tell yourself

This too shall pass

Confront the voice in your head

Confront the monsters’ whispers

Confront the lies it tells you

Drown it out.

It can be beaten.

You must confront it.

Tell it you know its pernicious influence

Will not accept its control

You will walk away, and lead your own life.

Sometimes you cannot do it alone

And that’s okay.

Seek aid to defeat the monster

Sometimes a loved one

Sometimes a counsellor

Perhaps even a higher power.

Do not lock yourself away in isolation

Or you give it yet more power.

The monster is in the wood of your mind

It is a part of us

Accept it, but do not let it dominate.

Let your true self shine.


End file.
